Wessex

Kingdom of Wessex (519-927) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in southern England. It was founded by Cerdic and the Saxons when they invaded England, and its capital was Winchester. Wessex was the strongest English kingdom after the 9th century, during which it led the fight against the Vikings.

History
Wessex, coming from the Anglo-Saxon word for "Kingdom of the West Saxons", was founded in 519 by Cerdic, a warrior king of the Saxons who defeated the Romano-British and founded his own kingdom in southern England, with his capital at Winchester. The pagan Saxons embraced Christianity in 643 under the rule of Cenwalh of Wessex, and Wessex became a bastion of Christianity in the British Isles.

Wessex was also a power house that conquered Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Mercia, and Devon under the rule of King Egbert of Wessex, and Northumbria became a vassal of Egbert. However, trouble came to the British Isles in 865 when the Great Heathen Army of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes under Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik, Ivar the Boneless of Sudreyjar, and Bjorn Ironside of Svibjod landed in England to avenge the execution of their father Ragnarr Lodbrok by Aella of Northumbria. The Vikings conquered York, which became Jorvik, and expanded their kingdoms, which became known as "Danelaw". The Vikings pushed south, conquering Northumbria and East Anglia, while also decreasing the size of Mercia. Aethelred and his brother Earl Alfred of Somerset fought the Vikings and defeated them in the Battle of Ashdown, but lost at the Battle of Basing in 871 and the Battle of Marton later that year. When Aethelred died, Alfred succeeded him.

Alfred mobilized the fyrd armies of Wessex and fought against the Viking invaders in guerrilla warfare before defeating them at the Battle of Edington in 878, a decisive victory that ended the Viking threat to his rule. Alfred was not safe from the Danes, but not as troubled as he was before his victory. Wessex held out against the Danes into the 10th century.

In 927, king Aethelstan led the armies of Wessex to conquer Jorvik, the last remaining Viking kingdom. This conquest made him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of all of England, and despite a Viking reconquest of Jorvik (now known as York) in 939, in 954 it was reconquered after his death. Wessex became a part of the Kingdom of England, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that united all of the previous ones.